World News - Second review of ports deal in the works Dubai firm formally submits to broader check of U.S. security situation

A United Arab Emirates company formally submitted Friday to an unusual, broader security examination of its plans to assume significant operations at six major U.S. ports — a business deal it code-named “Project Thunder.”The Bush administration said it will conduct a new, 45-day investigation of plans by Dubai-owned DP World to purchase London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. for $6.8 billion.The Project Thunder code name refers to a Dubai-controlled subsidiary, Thunder FZE, that is participating in the complex transaction, according to documents previously submitted to the Homeland Security Department. The new investigation — which could begin within days or weeks — is aimed at quieting the furor in Washington over the administration’s earlier approval of the deal. The British company runs major port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Hamas today entered talks with Russian officials insisting it was not about to bow to pressure from the international community and recognise Israel.The exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, hit hopes that the Moscow talks could persuade Hamas to soften its stance when he said non-recognition was a "decided issue".The US and EU - both large contributors to the Palestinian budget - say the Hamas-led government must recognise Israel if it is to continue to receive international aid. Russia's invitation to Hamas is the group's highest profile foreign engagement since it swept Fatah out of power in the January legislative elections....http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1722966,00.html

Oil prices have continued to rise on Friday, pushed higher by fears that production facilities may be attacked in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Nigerian production has been disrupted by militants, while Saudi Arabia said it halted a plan to bomb a local plant. There also are concerns that a European and US row with Iran over its nuclear programme may crimp oil exports. US light crude was trading 24 cents higher in New York at $63.60 a barrel, after jumping $1.39 on Thursday. In London, Brent crude prices were marked 28 cents higher to $64.35 a barrel. Although anti-government militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta region have released six of the nine foreign oil workers they recently kidnapped, they have pledged to deal "one huge crippling blow to the Nigerian oil industry". "We will commence with attacks in another area of the Niger Delta with an aim to ensuring the total discontinuation of export of onshore crude oil," the militants said in a statement....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4769404.stm

A new space-based study of Antarctica shows its ice sheet is shrinking. Researchers used satellites to plot changes in the Earth's gravity in the Antarctic during the period 2002-2005. Writing in the journal Science, they conclude that the continent is losing 152 cubic km of ice each year, with most loss in the west. In recent years scientists have found other evidence that West Antarctic ice is melting, which could contribute to sea level rise. In his contribution to a recent report on climate change, the director of the British Antarctic Survey, Chris Rapley, described the West Antarctic ice sheet as "a giant awakened". ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4767296.stm

A man told today of the brutal beatings and torture he claims to have suffered during more than four years at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.Fawzi al-Odah, a 29-year-old from Kuwait, said he had been force-fed by guards and that he had "given up" on life as a consequence of the treatment he had received.Mr Odah's version of life at the controversial prison camp at a US base in Cuba was relayed through his lawyer in reply to a series of written questions submitted by a BBC journalist. Mr Odah, who the US administration claims was fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, got his American attorney Tom Wilner to smuggle the answers out of the prison.One of 84 detainees who have spent part of their time in captivity on hunger strike, Mr Odah told how he was force-fed by guards to keep him alive....http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1723018,00.html

A Canadian military convoy has been attacked in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials have said. The bomber died but it is not clear whether there are any other casualties. The attack happened in the Daman district, some 15km (10 miles) south of Kandahar. The area has been sealed off by soldiers. A spokesman for the former Taleban regime, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, has said the attack was carried out by members of the group, reports say. "A car full of explosives blew up near a Canadian armoured vehicle," General Rahamatullah Raufi, the Afghan army commander in the south, told Reuters. The vehicle is said to have been partially damaged. On Thursday, a Canadian soldier was killed and at least six others injured in an accident outside Kandahar. Canada has some 2,300 troops stationed in Afghanistan, most of them in the south. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4769584.stm